Creativity

I usually start at the end. When you listen to a song for the first time, if there's something you remember from it the next day, that's where I can start writing the song. Whatever the takeaway is, that's the starting point for me.

Grammy-nominated music producer and songwriter behind major pop hits

To me, writing a song is like a ball game. You bounce the ball back and forth until someone doesn't want to play anymore. When you make music, you want to make someone feel something. So if you write in collaboration, you can have a good reality check if you can make each other feel something with every new word, every new melody.

Grammy-nominated music producer and songwriter behind major pop hits

Start doing things not for the end product, but for the impact on your heart, your brain, your life, and your health. Recognize that you've been conditioned to hate yourself and your creativity for the sake of a culture that does not care about you.

Life Coach, Author & Sociologist Known for Self-Acceptance Work

In the 1960s, NASA commissioned a study to identify creative geniuses for hiring, and found that 2% of the adults they tested fit the bill. A few years later, someone thought to give the same test to four- and five-year-olds—and 98% of them qualified as creative geniuses. The researchers blamed the school system.

Life Coach, Author & Sociologist Known for Self-Acceptance Work

As far back as we know, humans have spent a lot of energy making what I call 'pointless, precious things.' Archaeologists recently uncovered a life-size sculpture of a bison, 14,000 years old, in a cave in France. That must have taken real effort by people likely living a Palaeolithic lifestyle. That's part of why we've been so dominant on this planet.

Life Coach, Author & Sociologist Known for Self-Acceptance Work

For me, it wasn't about creating a traditional business plan but rather channelling my 1960s mindset—I aimed to amaze and captivate people. I wanted passersby to wonder, 'Have you seen that? What's going on there?' Ultimately, this desire to make an impression has been the connecting thread in everything I've undertaken.

I looked at these people as hecklers... as a comedian, that's what you do. You rebound heckling with comedy. I had to think of funny, witty ways to make them look foolish for giving the abuse. The way I did that (and still do it today) is to retweet or screenshot what they said, however vile, extreme or unpleasant – and think of something to say back which defuses it, disarms them, and makes them look stupid.

British comedian, writer, and television personality; co-founder of Fantasy Football League

To me it was a great revelation to find creativity in the midst of something that was not thought of as being creative.

Co-Founder of Pixar & Pioneer in Computer Graphics

We always have this mix in each area, but people tend to categorise creativity by discipline rather than by the individuals within those disciplines.

Co-Founder of Pixar & Pioneer in Computer Graphics

Fundamentally, where creativity is concerned, people are trying to express an idea or solve a problem. This applies in business, the arts, or even solving family or societal problems.

Co-Founder of Pixar & Pioneer in Computer Graphics

I think of creativity very broadly, for me it's about solving problems. A lot of people put creativity into the narrow bucket of artistic expression; including film-making, creative writing, music and so on- but there are many who understand that if you look at science and engineering, there are many very interesting problems that require creativity and you see a great outpouring of new ideas.

Co-Founder of Pixar & Pioneer in Computer Graphics

I looked at her and said, 'that's impossible! If I had stolen these pears from you… you would never have seen me!'

Nobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice

We have to interact with everyone so no one feels left out or ashamed; these negative emotions can kill curiosity and creativity.

Neuroscientist; Nobel Prize for discovering brain's positioning system cells

I want you to not deny your shadow, your darkest impulses, but to find ways to use them and turn them into something productive. We ought to take that ambition, those aggressive impulses, and channel them into our work, into great causes, into justice.

Author of "The 48 Laws of Power" & Strategist

Storytelling is an extraordinary powerful human skill that all of us are wired for; but its best used in the service of ideas.

Curator of TED Talks & Author of "The Long Tail

No one has to be a genius, but everyone has to participate.

Renowned French Industrial Designer & Architect Known for Innovative Product Design